Shared Destinies
by Linda4HIM59
Summary: A shortie - an alternate way for Sully and Michaela to meet and fall in love.  Sully comes to a stranger's defense, but she's doing a good job of fighting her battle on her own!


**SHARED DESTINIES**

**By Linda Ellen **

**Alternate May 2010 Challenge piece**

I wrote this for the May challenge, but ended up not submitting it. Thought I'd toss it up on just for the heck of it. Maybe someone will enjoy it. This is an alternate way for them to meet. First pic was Sully staring to the side, slightly frustrated. Second pic Hank staring angrily at the top of Michaela's head as she looked down.

XXXXXXX

Byron Sully slowly walked down the street in Colorado Springs. He had been gone from the area for months, having embarked upon a vision quest to the Black Hills.

The visions had been quite intense and upon his return he had spent much time discussing their meaning with his Cheyenne brother, Cloud Dancing. One in particular was so real, so potent...Sully had been totally overwhelmed by the feelings it had produced.

In the vision he had seen himself standing in the meadow by the church in front of a crowd of people, apparently uniting in marriage with a beautiful woman with burnished copper hair. The expression in her eyes as he lifted her veil to kiss her held so much love it took his breath away!

He knew he would never forget her face as long as he lived. Besides being the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen...her eyes were two different colors! One a clear sage green and the other a warm russet brown and they had filled his every waking thought and every dream since the vision ended.

Who WAS the woman? He'd never seen her before, but the vision seemed SO real that while it was happening he felt such love and passion for her it totally consumed his very being. In the space of mere seconds, he knew he would DO ANYTHING for her - lay his LIFE down for her if need be...and yet he didn't even know her name. Was she just a product of his imagination; his longing for love and family and a home? Or his loneliness since his wife Abigail had died in childbirth?

"It is a message regarding your future," Cloud Dancing had told him. "While you were on your quest, the spirits told me that you would soon meet someone who would change your life forever."

Now as he neared Bray's Mercantile, he paused to lean against a post of the porch and pass the time of day with his dear friend Charlotte Cooper.

Just as Charlotte began to tell Sully about the new doctor in town, they both heard shouting coming from the direction of the saloon. Turning his head, his lips parting in slight aggravation, Sully focused his eyes intently on the spectacle in the street.

"Oh no Dr. Mike...not again," Charlotte whispered, quickly heading in that direction.

"Dr. Mike?" Sully thought, following closely in Charlotte's wake.

"Who do you think you ARE lady?" The barkeep sneered at the woman standing her ground in front of him in the dusty street. "You can't jus' come in here and tell me one a' my girls ain't gonna work for a MONTH!"

"I warn you, Mr. Lawson, if she works, the repercussions will be quite severe," she answered in a distinct Boston accent, momentarily lowering her head from the overpowering stench of his whiskey and cigar breath. The lady doctor didn't realize that the smart little hat perched on her head as well as her perfectly coiffed hair and fancy bustled dress only served to make her seem like some sort of royal rather than a knowledgeable physician.

"Reeper WHAT?" Hank sneered as he stared at the top of her hat, his unruly blond ringlets wildly framing his face. Immediately, her head snapped up as she squared her shoulders, determined to make him understand the severity of the situation.

"The...RESULTS of such an action will cause a chain reaction. The men will go home to their wives and give the illness to them as well as spreading it to the other girls if they...partake of their company," she answered, stumbling a little over the last bit and fighting to neutralize the hated blush she knew had suffused her face.

By now they had gained a circle of onlookers, including Sully and Charlotte. Sully's eyes were drawn to this unusual woman as he took in her appearance, her cameo-like profile, and cultured vernacular. Charlotte had called her, "Dr Mike." The town had hired a woman doctor?

Just then, Dr. Mike looked past the barkeep's shoulder and into the eyes of the object of the heated discussion, standing in the saloon's doorway with a pained expression, her arms wrapped around her midsection.

"Myra?" Dr. Mike began, moving forward with the intent of brushing past the angry and slightly inebriated man in her way.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Hank immediately reacted, raising both hands to her collarbones and giving her a mighty shove even as he swayed a bit on his feet. She stumbled back with a startled gasp and nearly lost her balance, unprepared for the ferocity of the action.

Sully instantly leapt to the woman's defense, crossing the space in two strides and firmly planting his body between hers and the enraged saloonkeeper.

"Calm down Hank!" he warned, pressing a hand to the middle of the angry man's chest.

"This ain't your concern, SULLY," the barkeep sneered, his eyes shooting fire at the woman behind him. He pointed his finger angrily past Sully's shoulder toward the woman's face. "STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRLS!" he shouted.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Lawson," Dr. Mike bravely disagreed, feeling quite safe behind the sudden wall of protection provided by the stranger in buckskins. "One of your 'girls' is my patient...and I will see her any time she needs me!"

At that the saloonkeeper tried to lunge at her, roaring with irrational wrath at this infuriating female. Dr. Mike squealed in fright and Charlotte pulled her out of the way as Sully immediately went into action. Grabbing Hank by the arm, Sully swung him around, his right fist connecting solidly with the larger man's chin. The barkeep stumbled back. Enraged, he threw himself at the longhaired man, only to receive a hard landing on his back as Sully effortlessly flipped him head over heels.

The woman doctor watched the fight in fascination, not taking her eyes from this handsome stranger who had come to her defense. She had never seen anyone quite like him, with his long hair, buckskins, and dingy, loose-fitting shirt. Beads and a leather pouch of some sort hung around his neck. He greatly resembled an Indian...and he fought with the surefooted readiness of one as he spread his feet and leaned forward in a crouch, ready to react to whatever the barkeep dished out.

Beside her, Charlotte whispered, "Hank ain't got a chance agin' Sully. He aughtta quit while he's ahead."

"Sully?" Dr. Mike whispered back. "He's the one you told me about?"

"Yep. Just got back in town," Charlotte answered as they both yelped and jumped out of the way of the two men grappling their way across the street. Finally several other men stepped in and grabbed the contenders by their arms, dragging them apart.

"This ain't over, Injun' lover!" the saloonkeeper yelled at his adversary as several men manhandled him toward his porch. "This ain't over!"

The crowd could hear Hank swearing and yelling as he roughly ushered his "girls" back inside the bar. The men holding Sully let his arms go and he shrugged them off while giving the barkeep's retreating back a contemptuous glare.

Dusting off his clothes, Sully turned to the woman to make sure she was unharmed. As their eyes met for the first time, they both stopped short, locked in each other's gaze. Everything around them faded from view.

_It's HER..._ Sully instantly realized, his lips parting in a soft gasp as he stared into the gorgeous face of the woman from his vision. His mouth went dry and his heart skipped a beat and then began to pound within his chest.

Michaela's eyes widened at her first sight of the face of the virile mountain man who had come to her rescue. She swallowed dryly, unconsciously emitting a soft gasp at the intense emotions his gaze immediately evoked within her mind, heart and body. His eyes were so blue – they were mesmerizing. She felt her heart begin to beat an unusual cadence as it pounded within her chest. His eyes seemed to pull at her...as if they could extract her very soul from her body and join it with his own.

Michaela had all but given up on ever finding romance and love, settling instead on devoting herself to her career as a physician. Love? Is this what it felt like? After the crushing loss of her fiancé David, she had shied away from suitors in Boston...not that there were that many.

Now gazing into the eyes of this man, she remembered a vivid dream she'd had on the train involving Indians, horses, a small boy...and now she was sure...THIS man. She recognized his eyes and face immediately. In the space of a split second, her heart was captured and she knew she would do ANYTHING for him, risk her _life_ for him if necessary.

As Charlotte cleared her throat in amusement and introduced an old friend to a new friend, they each snapped out of their spell.

Reaching out a hand, Sully clasped Michaela's in a handshake as he managed to mumble something along the lines of, "Nice to meet you." The pair softly gasped again at the immediate and quite intense tingling sensations generated by the other's simple touch. Passion...desire...love.

The mountain man and the lady doctor both knew they had just met their soul mates. Of course, neither could possibly know of the adventures they would share together in the coming months and years.

One fact cemented itself in their hearts - they were two souls created to share their destinies.

**-The End**


End file.
